The idea of a building formed of a composite of foam coated with concrete or cement started over fifty years ago. The fact that such buildings are not in wide use is not because they are inferior structures to houses built from wood. Their scarcity is due to the fact that any new way of manufacturing buildings confronts the problem of proving to the various government organizations that such a house or building can meet the code requirements. This proof is not easily or inexpensively done. Further, each different design of house would be required to have a similar proof to be acceptable.
Many of the designs for foam-concrete composite buildings have not been cost effective. Other designs have not been able to span very large distances thereby severely limiting the size of their rooms.
These problems and others have been caused by the inability of the designers to analyze the strength of the composite buildings. Most conventional buildings, which have three components (structural framing, interior sheathing and exterior sheathing), fit into a simple mathematical format and can be analyzed by classical mathematical methods. Buildings using composite construction materials are complex to analyze and can not be solved classically.
The invention discloses how to analyze a building manufactured from a foam-concrete composite.
The invention also discloses structural designs discovered by the analysis to be of great strength and low mass.
Since the strength of these buildings can now be analyzed, the following objects can now be provided:
It is an object of the invention to provide low cost housing with an acceptable appearance.
It is an object to provide a method of manufacture requiring less skill in the work force.
It is another object of the invention to produce houses that use easily assembled materials.
It is an object of the invention to provide a building that has a high insulation value to lower the energy consumption of the house.
It is a further object to provide a building that is better able to withstand the forces of an earthquake, and other forces of nature at an affordable price.
It is another object of the invention to provide a method of proving the strength of a composite structure to the government organizations requiring approval.